Avatar: The Element of Shadow: Book 1: Scars
by Lancashire Banshee
Summary: Rai Utsuro thought she was from the Earth Kingdom, but when she accidentally firebent at one of her friends, she knew she was Fire Nation. So Rai ran away from the lie that was her life. In the forest she was found by a group of angry and destroyed children, the Freedom Fighters. Their leader, Jet, allowed her join even though she was a firebender. But the Avatar changed all that.
1. Chapter 1

Rai Utsuro had always looked different. Her hair was black and her skin pale, very much unlike her siblings, who all had auburn hair and naturally tanned. She looked at herself in the mirror, those bright, amber eyes stared back at her. Her definition, the thing that marked her as different.

"Rai?"

She turned around, letting her hair fall down her back again. Her sister, Sayu, stood in the doorway. Rai sighed, ashamed that she still couldn't do her own hair yet.

"You want some help?" Sayu asked, smiling.

"Don't you need to get ready?" She looked out from under her fringe.

Her sister laughed, "I'm always there to help my one and only sister."

Rai handed over her comb, watching the elegant hands work a pattern, one that she had never been able to do herself. Another difference.

The knife up her sleeve was cold. She slipped it into the palm of her hand, placed it onto her table, aware of Sayu's questioning sighs. Yet another difference. She looked again at herself, then at her sister's reflection. Her own narrow face and serious expression contrasted with her sister's general soft kindness. Her hair bubbling prettily over her shoulders, instead of hanging like a sheet of black iron.

"Thank you," Rai stood up, she turned to leave, trying to stop tears from falling.

"Rai," Sayu sounded like she would cry, "I know you don't feel pretty, but you are."

"Thank you for your concern, Sayu, but it isn't that."

* * *

It was Sayu's betrothal celebration that day, and, as a celebration, Rai's class was to perform their earthbending forms. Only the forms though, since many of them could not actually bend.

There was Sayu, looking happy, sitting next to her fiancé.

Rai breathed in, glad that they were not going to bend, remembering that she was the only one of her siblings that could not. She brought her right arm forwards, like the others. Keeping in with the rhythm. Considering it a dance. Then came the end, the final movement. Both hands pushed in front of her, it had finished, relief flooded her.

Until she saw the boy in front of her.

His hair was on fire, as were his clothes. He was staring in horror at her, she reached for him, trying to stop the flames. But only more fire came out of her hand.

It was her.

She was firebending.

Everything was wrong.

She was a lie.

Anger burned inside her, it filled her whole being, heating the fire within her. Allowing that fire to become a reality.

Her whole being was on fire, her rage enveloped her. People screamed. Her mother cried out. She saw her friends back away from her, afraid of what she was.

"Rai! Rai, calm down! Please! For me!" Sayu shouted, ignoring her fiancé's desperate attempts to lead her away.

Rai heard her. Rai saw herself. Her anger subsided.

And she allowed a tear to creep out of her eye.

The fire went out, the guests stopped screaming and she pulled the comb out of her hair.

"Why am I so different?"

"I don't know Rai."

"_Why am I so different?!_" She screamed.

"My love, I don't know!" Sayu tried to hold her.

"Don't touch me! Don't come near me!"

Sayu stepped back, her eyes tearing up at Rai's harsh words. Her bottom lip trembled and she wrung her hands, looking round at the crowd, her parents, her fiancé, trying to make eye contact. But they all avoided her gaze.

Rai, on the other hand, had started to walk backwards, her eyes wide. Her clothes smoking from the fire, her hair, loose and displaced, hung wildly over her face. The fire had blackened her hands, which scared her, for a firebender burning themselves was unheard of.

_You should leave._

She heard the voice in her head.

_Leave. You're not them._

And she listened to it.

* * *

Rai had never been this far from home before, the forest was intimidating and her instincts told her not to go in, but couldn't go back home. No. Never.

She squeezed her eyes to stop the tears from falling, she was strong, she must not cry, crying was for the weak. Her feet were bleeding and her legs cold. But she ignored the pain, continuing deeper into the forest, unaware of the noise up ahead. Unaware of the jovial singing and campfire. She ran right into a clearing, looking up, noticing the fire. She froze. A cold fear was bubbling inside her stomach, making it's way to her chest in the form of a scream, and then getting stuck in her throat.

For Rai had just run straight into a Fire Nation Army encampment.

All the soldiers looked at her in surprise, some of them halfway through their dinner, putting spoons in their mouths. Others were peering out of tents, looking surprised, and some, not many though, were holding weapons and practicing firebending.

_What are you going to do?_

There was that voice again.

A few of the soldiers had stood up, fire already in their hands. Rai's breathing was shallow, her heart beating ridiculously fast, sweat beaded on her forehead.

_You can firebend..._

'I don't know how,' she said to herself.

_You do know a form of bending though._

The voice was right, she knew earthbending forms, she could apply her knowledge of earthbending to her firebending ability... Yes, that was what she could do.

She clenched her hands into fists, the soldiers flinched at the aggressive movement. She stamped her foot on the ground, pushing her fists up, keeping her elbows close to her body. The soldiers leapt up, obviously thinking that she was an earthbender. That was, until, she produced a wall of fire.

They all laughed, letting their guard down. So she stamped her foots and kicked out, shooting a jet of fire at them. Then they stopped laughing. She kept herself tight, wound up like a spring, ready to be released whenever she wanted.

"Relax your stance, girl," one of them said.

"No," she muttered, just loud enough for him to hear.

"My name is Captain Ito, we're not going to hurt you."

"Why?" Rai blurted out, her fear was tense and in her muscles.

"You're a firebender, you're not an enemy," Ito explained.

"My name is Rai Utsuro of the Earth Kingdom!"

"No, you are clearly Fire Nation."

"NO!" she screamed, "No, no, no!

Several of the soldiers tried to grab hold of her, but she ran between them, unfortunately slipping up over the slick ground. She tumbled sideways, landing facedown in between a short rack of daggers. They cut the skin around her face, almost digging into her temples. Rai could feel the blood beading and falling in long trains down her face, into her eyes and mouth, it hurt so much she was numb.

Ito picked her up, she did not fight him, she could not even cry. The pain and heat building up inside her was becoming unbearable.

She burned, again. It was becoming worse than the cuts, it was like a fire was growing within her, burning her up and destroying her from the inside. Ito must have noticed her skin getting hotter, for her sat her down by the fire a looked at her inquiringly.

"We need to get her back to the Fire Nation, I'm sure one of my brothers will take her in," she heard him said.

Panic and pain and fire were building in her, she could not control it any longer, the fire was overwhelming her. It exploding around her again, burning the ground around her as she lashed out. She could not really see what she was doing, only her anger and wild flames danced in front of her eyes.

The screams of burning people filled her ears, the shouts of Captain Ito as he tried to rally his men, attempting save them, telling them that they would be treated as soon as they reached the nearest colony. Then as he cried out to her, trying to get her to calm down. But she was beyond help. She was lost deep inside her fear and anger. Scared by herself and yet so unable to stop this fiery monster inside her.

Now there was a different noise, the sounds of men being cut down. She lashed out one last time, trying to get them away from her, then the fire died down. Around her were the bodies of the soldiers, some burned but most of them had been killed by some other form. The wounds looked like sword wounds, some had been shot.

Then she looked up. A band of ragtag children stood at the entrance to the clearing, they looked at her, their eyes filled with distrust and fear. Except the tallest boy, the one with twin tiger hook swords., he had a look of curious interest about him, like he wanted to know her better and see what she could do.

She swayed, a breeze pushed her hair across her face, stinging her wounds and calming the sparks on her destroyed clothing. They moved forward, she could do nothing to stop them, and she fell to the ground, blacking out.


	2. Chapter 2

Smellerbee looked over at the girl on the floor, she had lain her on a poor excuse for a futon, but it was what they had. The cuts along the girls face would scar permanently, her burns would probably heal, she was disfigured. She wished she could have done more for her. The wood of the tree trunk was damp and was spreading along the branches, not good for someone who was possibly unwell.

The girl stirred and started groaning, her blackened hands reaching defensively over herself. Her eyes opened, just barely, but enough to show her eye color, almost yellow.

"It was pretty amazing, what you did last night," Smellerbee said. "I did the best I could for your wounds. My parents were doctors, I learnt a bit from them until they were killed by firebenders."

She realized what she had said and looked nervously at the girl. She was just lying still, curled up in the foetal position, staring blankly at the side of the hut. Smellerbee crawled over to her, those amber eyes looked up at her, filled with a desolate loneliness.

"My name's Smellerbee. What's your name, huh?," Smellerbee asked.

The girl sat up, a sigh escaped her, like just living tired her out

"Rai, my name is Rai," she said, her voice husky and unusually low.

Smellerbee looked at her, feeling almost jealous of Rai's femininity, of her cold, distant beauty. Her own hair was short and brown, her body narrow and flat, boyish. Rai had long, black hair that was falling over her face in haunted lines, with most of her clothes burnt away, the curves along her hips could be seen. She was not pretty, she most certainly could not be described using lush words, she was not seductive in any way.

She was tragic and beautiful, so emotionless and yet crying out with waves of depression. Rai was entrancing, even the way she held herself showed that she was of quality.

A shadow fell across the small room, Smellerbee looked up, in the doorway stood Longshot, his silent presence had a way of letting them know what he thought. He looked at Smellerbee and then at Rai.

"Yeah, we're coming now," Smellerbee muttered.

She motioned to Rai, who stood up and stretched gracefully. She led her out of the hut and made to follow Longshot.

* * *

Rai could not shake off the hollow feeling inside her, she had lost complete control and had done untold damage. She had no home anymore, nobody would want her around anymore. She was alone, alone and damaged.

She could not allow herself to lose it like that again, and to her, the only way to accomplish that was to not allow herself to feel anything, anything at all. So why did she feel so empty?

She would just have to get used to it.

She glanced around her, they were up in what looked like a tree fort, the bareness of winter made the place look even more desolate than the inhabitants. The children around her sat in clumps, their hunger lurking in their eyes, following her, haunting her. They held various weapons in their hands, most of them limply and without any vigor.

Now she looked at Longshot, he was of average height and not much, but there was something about him that demanded to be heard. His back was straight, he carried his bow tightly in his hand, there was something about him that Rai recognized. A loneliness perhaps, or maybe is was the over strength in his general demeanor.

They were coming up to another hut, this one slightly larger and covered in red and blue fabric, instead of one or the other. She pushed away the emptiness of her heart and briefly wondered who they were going to see, if it was anyone at all.

Longshot pushed aside a curtain of red, he held it aside and allowed Smellerbee to walk in. Rai followed, her previous and bare interest had been fleeting, she was starting to become indifferent to her surroundings, no one could care less about her, so why should she? She did not care what happened to her, she could live, she knew how to survive, if she needed to.

She stared off into space, unaware that someone was in the tent. She only looked up when Smellerbee tugged at her arm, nodding towards someone.

It was the boy who had the tiger hook swords, his brown hair was shaggy and fell over his eyes. A piece of wheatgrass was between his teeth, his eyebrows raised as she looked at Rai roguishly. He was good looking in a ragged way, he had life around him, and trouble. There was definitely an air of trouble about him.

He stood up and nodded to them. "The name's Jet," he said with a half smile, "And these are my Freedom Fighters."

Jet took in the girl in front of him, her blank stare intrigued him. Those seemingly glassy eyes held a fire behind them, like she was thinking as fast as she could, faster than he would ever be able to. She was attractive, her hair fell into a straight fringe across her forehead, framing those amber eyes of hers. Her hair was black and surprisingly shiny, her skin was pale, though her hands appeared to be scorched. Even the crimson scars on the sides of her face were beautiful. He let his eyes wander over the soft curve of her hips, she was thin, but appeared to be in top physical condition. Maybe not mentally well, but to him that added to her beauty.

All in all, Jet was attracted to her. Maybe not entirely in a romantic sense, definitely in a sexual sense though. He wanted her, that much was clear.

"Who are you?" he asked. He hadn't taken his eyes of her.

"I was, until yesterday, Rai Utsuro. But as of then, I am now just Rai," her voice was even and emotionless.

She really was something.

"Can you fight?"

She looked down at the floor, then back at him. "My parents, I mean, carers, sent me to self defense because I couldn't earthbend. My teacher was a shinobi and decided to teach me ninjutsu in secret, I joined his Village. So, I am a shinobi."

Jet nodded, this girl was getting more and more interesting, she could fight and was attractive. He was certainly lucky.

"But," she continued, "Ninjutsu is no good in battle. I am, in a sense, an assassin, though I have never killed anyone and received payment."

That was understandable, and he would make sure she joined him. He needed her.

Jet held out his hand, "Will you join the Freedom Fighters?"

Rai looked him straight in the eye, considering her possibilities. She could go and find the Kaga Shinobi Village, but there were these starving people, these people who called themselves Freedom Fighters. She had no choice really, she had a duty.

"I'll join you," she said, shaking his hand. And Jet smiled, almost to himself.

* * *

**A/N: I'll probably keep Rai in this time for about another chapter, I'm then moving it forward to when the Avatar returns. I hope people read it and like it! But all that aside, this doesn't follow the Maiko ship, just to warn you. Neither is it Zutara (my OTP), so be warned.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This chapter is really short... I've been really busy lately and I have been writing an original novel instead. Sorry!**

* * *

Rai pulled herself up, using a tree branch she was doing pull ups, flipping herself over she started to pull herself up using her legs. She had been with the Freedom Fighters for almost two weeks and she had been training solidly for almost all that time, much to the shock of Smellerbee, who had wanted her to rest. But Rai knew that she couldn't rest, she had a duty to fulfill, she had to push herself to her limits, push herself until she couldn't stand from the lactic acid.

She had tried to refine her firebending as well, she was glad she was allowed to, Jet hated firebenders but he was willing to make an exception for her. That bothered her but she did so anyway.

Her movements had become smoother and more fluid, she could now produce fire out of her feet and mouth as well as her hands, creating her own techniques had made it easier. Applying her bending to ninjutsu would prove more useful in her task ahead of her, but using it with earthbending forms would prove formidable in a direct fight. Taking a bunch of daggers from the former Fire Nation encampment, she now used firebending with her knife throwing ability.

She was almost ready.

Right now, she could hear Smellerbee and Jet up in the trees. It annoyed her, but she made sure not to show it. Allowing her emotions to get out of control could result in a forest fire, and it would certainly upset some spirit; which was one thing she didn't need.

She jumped down from the tree, landing silently on the branch below. She listened carefully, trying to pinpoint where they were, which wasn't hard in the long run. They weren't exactly masters of stealth, she could hear them talking and moving the branches. Now that she was aware of the noises it was actually quite irritating.

Breathing in deeply, feeling her connection with the elements, she leapt up. She managed to land high above where she was working beforehand, not too far from where Jet and Smellerbee were. They were more audible now, they hadn't noticed her leaving, but now she knew they had noticed her absence from their nervous, almost anxious, chatter.

Wouldn't want a rogue firebender running around unattended, now would you?

_Feel nothing and watch everything._

She jumped, her movements swift and fluid and silent. She stopped above them. Her breathing pretty much silent, she listened to what they were saying.

"Jet, there's something odd about the way she moves."

That was Smellerbee.

"So what?"

There was that smirking voice that belonged to Jet.

"She isn't moving like a bender- Hey! Where'd she go?"

"I don't know, she was there just a minute ago!"

Rai chuckled derisively and landed just behind them, they turned around in shock - Smellerbee looked relieved, Jet just smirked, but he looked a little bit pleased as well. She stood her ground, not walking any closer to them.

"I've got a job to do," she said.

"What sort of job?" Jet asked.

She shrugged, "Don't know the details yet. I'll be gone a few days."

She turned away and was about to leap down when Jet grabbed hold of her wrist. She looked at him, breathing down her indignation. His eyes had lost their mocking look, instead they held an intense worry; a look that made her feel incredibly unsure.

"Stay safe," he said.

"I'll try," she answered.

* * *

Throughout her life she had been sent to self defense classes. Ling and Ari Zheng Fei had been concerned about their daughter's welfare, knowing that she was unable to earthbend, so they sent her to Master Cho's Martial Arts Academy. Her particular teacher was called Joushi, an excitable young man with considerable martial ability. He had noticed that Rai was uncommonly agile, so he had introduced her to his world; the Hidden World.

It was through his intervening that she now had a purpose, and a job.

It was because of Joushi that she could kill, that she was an assassin by training though not by practice. It was his intervention that could allow her to help the starving Freedom Fighters.

And here she was.

At the Village of Kaga.

The home of killers.

The house of shadows.

_Feel nothing and watch everything._

Rai kicked up the dirt, walked up to the largest house and opened the door. Two people were in the room - a few doors led away to seperate parts of the house, the floors were shined, the screens made with the finest paper, the table the people were at was, surprisingly, made of mahogany. They were looking up at her in astonishment. The youngest man was naturally tanned and rather good looking, he was the first to speak, his voice easygoing with a slight drawl.

"Rai? What are you doing here?"

She bowed, "Master Joushi. I need a job."

Joushi spluttered out a reply, "But you're a child! You don't even have a name yet!"

She blinked at him, "Then I will make one."

"Rai Zheng Fei! No! You shall not do it! I am telling you-"

The older man raised his hand, "Joushi calm down. Now girl, why do you want a job?"

"I have to feed the people I now live with," Rai answered coldly.

"Who-" Joushi was interrupted again.

The man nodded seriously, "Then come here and tell us your shinobi name."

She walked to the table, stopping just that little bit further away, giving the distance that one would when you distrust someone. She looked the man in the eye, trying to see if he was messing with her. She could only see blank honesty. She didn't trust him.

_Feel nothing and watch everything._

"My name is Noir."


End file.
